Rodrick Rules
Plot The Heffley family attend a party at a roller rink, where Greg (Zachary Gordon) reunites with Rowley (Robert Capron), Fregley (Grayson Russell) and Chirag (Karan Brar). Greg meets a new girl at school, Holly Hills (Peyton List), and then talks about his summer. Rodrick (Devon Bostick) starts persuading violent teenagers to enter the rink. Their mom, Susan (Rachael Harris) and dad, Frank (Steve Zahn) humiliate him by speaking to him on the DJ system and carrying him off the rink (although his dad apologizes, having been equally humiliated). Afterwards, Mom has noticed that the boys haven't been getting along so she devises "Mom Bucks", play money she will pay them if they spend time together and can then trade in for one real dollar, but this makes things worse. Meanwhile, Greg and Rowley try to make a funny YouTube video of Rowley lip-synching to "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha while wearing underwear on his head. Unfortunately, it proves to be awful, getting only 4 views. When a talent show is advertised on TV, the brothers see this as a big opportunity – Rowley suggests that he and Greg perform magic tricks, but Greg rejects the idea whilst Rodrick sees this as his band's big break. On Sunday, the Heffley family goes to church but Greg is extremely reluctant to go inside, as a melted chocolate bar, intentionally placed on his seat by Rodrick, has stained his trousers. Greg's mom uses her coat to cover up the stain, but the cover-up backfires when Rodrick exposes Greg's pants. The boys ultimately end up in a scuffle on the floor and as punishment, they are to spend a whole weekend together to bond while their parents leave to go to a water park. Against his parents' orders, Rodrick has a party at the house and locks Greg in the basement. Rowley comes to "save" Greg, but Rodrick locks him in the basement as well, until a call from their mother results in Rodrick letting the two out in return for their silence on the matter. The next day, the two get a call from their mom, informing them that they are returning early from their trip. The house is trashed, and the boys have to clean it up and erase all evidence of the party before their parents come home. When they see that one of the people wrote "Rodrick Rules" on the bathroom door, they replace the door with a different one. Afterwards, Greg notices that the new door does not have a lock while the old one did. When their mother notices this after a few days, she confronts both boys individually. Greg confesses, but in order to prevent Rodrick from getting angry at him, he says the party was only a band rehearsal, and the two escape punishment. Rodrick thinks that Greg denied everything, and the brothers become friends, with Rodrick teaching Greg about his secrets to an easy life with "Rodrick's Rules". Later, at school, Greg finds a note from Holly Hills in his locker telling him to meet her in the art room. Instead, he finds Chirag, who has dressed up as Holly to trick Greg as revenge for his "invisible Chirag" joke. In the hallway, Holly passes by and greets Greg as "Fregley", which upsets Greg. That night, Rodrick takes Greg out for the night. They end up having fun, drinking slurpees and pranking people with fake vomit. However, one prank goes too far when Coach Malone (Andrew McNee) chases them into the mall. The boys return home, only to discover that their father has come across photos of the party that they threw while their parents were gone. Greg is grounded for two weeks with no video games, and Rodrick is only allowed to drive to and from school for a month and is not allowed to participate in the talent show. Greg tries to apologize but Rodrick, realizing that Greg had lied to him, tells him that they are no longer friends and they return to being rivals. The boys spend the weekend with their grandfather, Grandpa Pop (Terence Kelly), in his retirement home Leisure Village, where Greg encounters Holly, who is visiting her grandmother. Holly apologizes to Greg for calling him "Fregley", and Greg learns that Holly has a mean older sister and a spoiled little sister, just like Greg. Before going to sleep, Greg writes in his diary about Holly Hills; in the morning, Rodrick reads the diary aloud, which wakes Greg up. Rodrick then threatens to tell Holly Hills and runs towards the lobby to do so. Greg chases after Rodrick in his underwear and manages to snatch away the diary. He runs to the bathroom, rips out several pages from the diary, and flushes them down the toilet. He discovers he is in the women's restroom, but manages to escape the mob of angry women who think he is a "peeping tom". However, he finds that Rodrick caught everything on tape and is threatening to show it to everyone. At the talent show a few nights later, Rowley's magic performance is unable to take place, as his eight-year-old assistant Scotty (Jakob Davies) gets stage fright. Greg's mom suggests to Greg to do the show with Rowley, but Greg refuses, saying that he will look stupid. When Rodrick goes to his band, Greg follows and watches Rodrick's band member, Bill Walter (Fran Kranz), kick him out of the band he created. Greg bargains with his mom to allow Rodrick to perform; in exchange, he will perform with Rowley, which his mom accepts. The magic show is a hit with the audience and Holly meets Greg backstage to tell him she loved their show, but for Patty Farrell, (Laine MacNeil), she tells Greg it was pathetic. Rodrick's band, Löded Diper, performs but the crowd is not impressed until they see Greg's mom dancing on the stage, and start to dance and cheer her along. Greg is happy for finally having fixed the problems with his family, whilst Rodrick kicks Bill out of the band. Rodrick drives Greg to school, as the boys have now forgiven each other. Rodrick also gives him a tape containing the "embarrassing moment" at Leisure Towers. The boys then create a new friendship, realizing it is fun to have a brother. In a post-credits scene, Greg and Rowley put the video of the talent contest on YouTube which becomes a huge hit while Rodrick is heard shouting "Greg! You are so dead!" Cast Zachary Gordon as Greg Heffley, a seventh grader Devon Bostick as Rodrick Heffley, Greg and Manny's older brother Robert Capron as Rowley Jefferson, Greg's best friend Rachael Harris as Susan Heffley, Greg's mom Fran Kranz as Bill Walter Steve Zahn as Frank Heffley, Greg's dad Connor and Owen Fielding as Manny Heffley, Greg and Rodrick's younger brother Peyton List as Holly Hills, Greg's love interest Karan Brar as Chirag Gupta, Greg's Indian-American friend Grayson Russell as Fregley Arine, the weird kid Laine MacNeil as Patty Farrell. Terence Kelly as Grandpa Pop, Greg and Rodrick's grandfather who likes to watch the lobby security channel on his television. Belita Moreno as Mrs. Norton Andrew McNee as Coach Malone, the gym teacher John Shaw as Mr. Huff Alf Humphreys as Mr Robert Jefferson Jakob Davies as Scotty Douglas Conner Ingram as Young Rodrick Heffley Owen Best as Bryce Anderson Jeff Kinney as Mr. Jonathon Hills, Holly's father Serge Houde as Mr Larry Salz, the head of The New York Times. Mr Salz is Baptist and Dutch-American. Production Talks of a sequel were announced after the release of the first, but was not officially announced until May 12, 2010, announcing that it would be released March 25, 2011.3 Filming took place in Vancouver, British Columbia and New Westminster, British Columbia from August 23 to October 27, 2010.4 The mall scene was filmed at Park Royal Mall in West Vancouver.needed Director Thor Freudenthal was replaced by director David Bowers (Flushed Away and Astro Boy). Distribution The film's trailer was shown with Gulliver's Travels on December 25, 2010. It was later online on January 3, 2011. A poster was released there after on January 14, 2011. In February 2011, an exclusive online-only trailer was released on the "Wimpy Kid Movie" YouTube channel, officialwimpmovie. Due to the success of the first film in Singapore, the film was released there eight days before the US release on March 17, 2011.5 A TV spot of the movie was released in March 2 Home Media Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules was released on a stand-alone DVD, a special edition double DVD pack, and a Blu-ray/DVD/digital copy combo pack on July 19, 2011. One of the bonus shorts was shown during iParty with Victorious on Nickelodeon at 8:00 PM on June 11, 2011. Reception Box Office The film made $7,300,000 on its opening day, ranking #2 behind Sucker Punch. The film managed to rank #1 in the weekend box office.6 In the UK, the film debuted at #3 in the weekend box office behind Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and The Hangover Part II. Critical Response Like its predecessor, Rodrick Rules received mixed reviews; it currently holds a 47% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 93 reviews, with an average rating of 5.3/10.7 It holds a score of 53 on Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive review saying, "Director David Bowers keeps things peppy and brightly lighted, but the movie's swiftest pleasures come from moment-seizing cast members." Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it a positive review saying, "A little less wimpy, gives value lessons to the watchers from the cast, and still pretty funny" and a B rating. Pete Hammond of Boxoffice magazine gave it a mixed review stating "Even better than the first edition, in its own sitcom-ish ways." However, Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post gave it a negative review (38 on Metacritic), stating "You can't fault the filmmakers for reshaping a diary into a cohesive film. You can however, fault them for taking one of the great antiheroes in preteen literature and turning him into, well, an even wimpier kid." External Links [http://www.wimpykid.com (Official Website)